Internet meme as the subject of social studies: opportunities of event analysis application

The present study considers memes as socio-cultural phenomena which is complex and multilevel. The authors single out research prospects for studying memes with the methods applied in sociological research. Even though a variety of disciplines studies memes, sociology analyzes memes from the perspective of social stratification, “us” and “them” dichotomy, allowing researchers to observe memetics as both socio-cultural and quasi-political reality. Internet meme is shown as the most dynamic and representative phenomenon in memetics. Social media provide a context for Internet meme that reflect values of any modern society. The methods applied in meme research presupposes a synthesis of interdisciplinary approaches and separate procedures including, firstly, multimodal analysis, content analysis and discursive studies. Event analysis is a subtype of content analysis. In the case of memes interpretation due to this method a researcher can observe the dynamics of social and political events, define social and cultural continuum markers as well as values of modern society.